GNTO’s Secretary General Cites Tourism Priorities

Nikos Karahalios, secretary general of the Greek National Tourism Organization, during a media briefing on Tuesday, 2 October.

The top priority of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) is to ensure steady tourism growth for 2012-2013, according to the organization’s secretary general, Nikos Karahalios.

During his first media briefing to Greek tourism journalists yesterday, 2 October, Mr. Karahalios said a new strategy for Greek tourism would be prepared for 2013-2014.

The secretary general said the organization’s plans included improvements to infrastructure and services in cooperation with relevant ministries.

He also mentioned that a study would be carried out by the GNTO on the current trends in the foreign markets since the previous one, conducted in 2006, was outdated.

When questioned in regards to the launch of the planned tourism marketing company (Marketing Greece) in cooperation with the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, the secretary general said that first certain factors (staff, costs and legal issues) must be considered before decisions would be made. “We seek the best possible cooperation with all agencies,” he said.

He also stressed the need for stability in public administration and underlined that the position of the general secretary of tourism should be semi-permanent (a term of three or five years).

In addition, he said his ambition was for the GNTO to run again as a model organization as it had in the ‘60s.